Hello, all!
Because I’m finishing my ELA teaching degree after an 8-year pause, I’ve been on a nonstop reading binge from summer to now. So far, nailing down classics that I’ve somehow missed has been my goal.
I’ve always been a big fan of literary fiction, but I’ve mainly kept to the 19th and 20th centuries. I want to be able to recommend contemporary books to my future students, so please, give me some good suggestions of modern literary fiction, and I’ll add them to my TBR list.
Thank you!
by OTO-Nate
13 Comments
“Anxious people” by Fredrik Backman
Released earlier this year: [Back to the Garden](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125064601-back-to-the-garden) by Megan Wykes. It’s from a small Canadian publisher so I have no idea how easy it is to get ahold of outside of Canada.
Released last year: [Our Wives under the Sea](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58659343-our-wives-under-the-sea) by Julia Armfield. I’d call it magical realism, but it has literary fiction in the tags so maybe it counts?
My top reads from the past year (not published in the past year, just what I’ve read):
– “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee (this is easily top 5 books I’ve ever read)
– “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi
– Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, starting with “My Brilliant Friend”.
– “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid – this is much more commercial fiction, lighter.
– “The Candy House” by Jennifer Egan
– “Outlawed” by Anna North
– “Harlem Shuffle” by Colson Whitehead
I also really love Elizabeth Strout and her novels, but I also fully recognize that those books might not appeal as much to a younger audience.
The novels Real Life and The Late Americans, both by Brandon Taylor.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai.
The Topeka School by Ben Lerner.
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett.
*Chasing Homer* by Krasznahorkai
*Septology* by Fosse
*The Posessed* by Gombrowicz
*Solenoid* by Cartarescu
*Hôtel Casanova* by Ernaux (semi-autobiographical)
I just finished The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt. I liked most of his other books (like the Sister Brothers). Not sure what I think of his latest.
Euphoria by Lily King
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje (anything by MO, but this is his most recent, published in 2018).
Ishiguro is probably my favorite contemporary lit fic author, so {{Klara and the Sun}} and {{The Buried Giant}}.
How Should a Person Be? – Heti
Dept of Speculation – Offill
The Lost Books of the Odyssey – Mason
Klara and the Sun – Ishiguro
* Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada
* Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
* Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly
* Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas
* Little Fish by Casey Plett
* Monarch by Candice Wuehle
* Nevada by Imogen Binnie
* Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
* We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman
Tan Twan Eng’s novels.
Michael Ondaatje has published a few since then.
In both cases, they are always brilliant.
*the secret chord* – geraldine brooks
*the lion seeker* – kenneth bonert
*’round midnight* – laura mcbride
*when the night comes* – favel parrett
*the wives of los alamos* – tarashea nesbit
Some I especially enjoyed:
* [‘Unsettled Ground’](https://www.waterstones.com/book/unsettled-ground/claire-fuller/9780241457467) by Claire Fuller – centres around the theme of rural poverty, which is something I don’t often see discussed in books
* [‘The Fell’](https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-fell/sarah-moss/9781529083248) by Sarah Moss – a stream-of-consciousness snapshot of a mountain rescue during the Covid lockdown, from the perspectives of four people involved
* [‘The Bees’](https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-bees/laline-paull/9780007557745) by Laline Paull – xenofiction novel about a worker bee, which uses sensory descriptions in interesting ways